12 Always Original Experiences

  1. Eat your way along the Beer Cheese Trail. The final stop? The Beer Cheese Festival, held the second Saturday in June.
  2. Take a plant tour of Ale-8-One, home of the only soft drink invented in Kentucky still in existence.
  3. Trace Daniel Boone’s footsteps to the top of Pilot Knob State Nature Preserve where the explorer got his first full panoramic view of Kentucky’s Bluegrass Region.
  4. See the replica workshop of legendary musical instrument maker Homer Ledford—who handcrafted more than 6,000 musical instruments (many of them dulcimers) during his lifetime—at the Bluegrass Heritage Museum.
  5. Tour Regeneration Distilling, an organic, craft farm-to-bottle distillery on Kentucky’s new Moonshine Trail.
  6. Shop and dine in a downtown that looks much as it did a century ago: Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Winchester has five-globe lampposts and an elevated sidewalk called the Highside—one of the few such streets in the country.
  7. Visit a replica fort of the one Daniel Boone built in 1775 at nearby Fort Boonesborough State Park.
  8. Paddle back in time to the Ordovician Period of about 450 million years ago at the Kentucky River Palisades with Three Trees Canoe – Kayak Rental and RV Park.
  9. Watch bowtie maker extraordinaire Mason Rhodus craft bowties at his downtown shop, Mason’s on Main.
  10. Join the crowd in Winchester’s Heritage Park for a Labor Day Celebration and Kentucky’s longest-running parade.
  11. See rare and endangered plants and irreplaceable historical and archaeological features on a guided tour of Lower Howard’s Creek Nature & Heritage Preserve.
  12. Pick up provisions including “Kentucky’s Official Soft Drink” at Clark’s Pump-n-Shop’s Ale-8 “cave” for a day of hiking in nearby Red River Gorge.